Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we celebrated with the missionaries from our ward.  It was nice to be home for the holidays and to do our Christmas traditions again.  We had a lovely (made even more lovely by the fact that as per tradition - Andy cooks) roast lamb and potatoes dinner with chocolate sauce for dessert.  The table was set nicely with Christmas crackers, centerpieces, fancy new dinnerware (thank you Mackrorys for the great Christmas gift) and of course sparkling cider.  The missionaries loved the Christmas crackers (which for those of you who are not British based is a small package that has a tiny fire cracker pop when you open it to reveal a paper crown, a joke (a very bad one), and a prize.  Google Christmas cracker and you will see). They also loved the lamb.  All but one of them had never had it before.  We talked about traditions, their homes and other holiday related fun. 

 After dinner we proceeded with the rest of our Christmas Eve traditions.  We read the story of Christ's birth from Luke ch 2, sang Christmas carols (Silent Night being accompanied by Lyman on the piano - so proud of him), and had a testimony meeting.  This is the first year we did the testimony meeting.  It is a family tradition on my side that I love and when I began to see that my kids had trouble expressing their feelings about church related things, or sharing their testimonies (or in some cases being a little embarrassed by religious things to people outside our faith (Lyman)) I decided it might be a good thing to start in our family too.  This gives them a safe place to practice talking about their testimonies so that if ever they felt like sharing it to someone else or at church they will feel less inhibited.  Beyond times like FHE, the testimony meeting at Christmas Eve was a point when I remember hearing my parents full testimony and it was special. It was a wonderful experience this year too.  The missionaries were wonderful examples to the kids and each kid had thought about and prepared for what they might want to say for a week or so before from when we had the FHE about it to prepare them.

For a Mom, it was probably the best present I could ever get.  Hearing my kids talk about how they know their prayers are heard and when they feel comforted by the Spirit.  Their testimonies are so precious to me.

Lyman especially liked one missionary and wanted a picture with him.  In the end, we also opened our one gift on Christmas Eve.  Our new ornament for the tree.  We got one for the missionaries too.  It was a lovely evening, full of the spirit of what Christmas is really about.